Casting Call: Evans and Thomas Join Refn’s ONLY GOD FORGIVES; Hammer to Lead 2:22; Grillo Signs on to LAY THE FAVORITE

We have a few pieces of casting news to report this afternoon. First up, Luke Evans and Kristin Scott Thomas have joined Nicolas Winding Refn’s independent drama Only God Forgives. There’s no word yet on which roles the Evans or Thomas will play, but according to Cineuropa [via The Playlist], the plot centers “on a Thai police lieutenant whose rivalry with a gangster sees the two settling their differences in a Thai boxing match.” International rights to the film will be sold later this month at Cannes.

Refn recently directed the Ryan Gosling thriller Drive—which will premiere at Cannes and open in the U.S. on September 16th—and he plans to shoot Only God Forgives before moving on to direct a remake of Logan’s Run which will also star Gosling. Presumably, shooting on Only God Forgives would take place this summer and then Refn and Gosling would shoot Logan’s Run in the late fall or early winter in order to accommodate Gosling’s shooting schedule on Gangster Squad. Hit the jump for casting news regarding Armie Hammer and Frank Grillo.

Armie Hammer’s career has absolutely exploded since his memorable performance(s) in The Social Network. He’s co-starring in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, he’s nabbed one of the lead roles in Tarsem Singh’s The Brothers Grimm: Snow White, and he’s in talks to star opposite Johnny Depp in Gore Verbinski’s adaptation of The Lone Ranger. Now we’ve received a press release announcing that Hammer will star in the psychological thriller 2:22 for director Paul Currie (One Perfect Day). Here’s the official synopsis:

2:22 is a clever, rollercoaster thriller that centers on Dylan (Hammer) an air traffic controller who is given a jolt when he narrowly escapes being responsible for a mid air collision between two passenger planes. Caused by a mysterious blinding light that happened at 2:22, these strange occurrences continue and lead Dylan to meet Sarah, with whom he feels inexplicably linked. Together the two discover uncanny similarities with their current predicament and a double murder committed a generation ago. With a grim fate looming, Dylan must solve the mystery of 2:22 to preserve a love whose second chance has finally come.

The script was written by Todd Stein (Unbound) and Nathan Parker (Moon). International rights for the film will be sold at Cannes. Production is slated to begin this fall in Sydney.

Finally, Frank Grillo (The Gates) has joined Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, and Catherine Zeta Jones in Stephen Frears’ Lay the Favorite. Based off the memoir by Beth Raymer, the story follows a young woman (Hall) who learns the inside game of the gambling racket from her eccentric boss/mentor (Willis). Per THR, “Grillo will play part of the gambling racket crew lead by Willis and fancies himself to be a ladies man.” Grillo will next be seen in the MMA fighting drama Warrior.